One of the benefits of living in the technological age is that we have so much instructional information at our fingertips. I learned how to sew with a sewing machine by watching a video. I have googled everything from how to make Baklava, butterfly shrimp, and make my own pita bread. Google has helped me find how to remove stains, unclog drains and make my own fabric deodorizer. Many marital conflicts have been avoided because Jim and I have gone to experts online for car repairs and house projects rather than out-suggest or out-argue each other when neither of us knows what we are doing. It is amazing. I smile when I ask one of my dear friends to look it up online when she asks me how to do something. When it comes to guides on how to, we have not because we search not. Sometimes I laugh and tell Jim my theme song is a line from an old hymn that has been modified for folks like me… “When the scroll is called up yonder… I’ll be there!” I love learning how to do new things. Though often successful outcomes are questionable.
If you are a disciple of Christ, you already know that the Bible is a guide to help us live out our faith. God did not command us to live a pleasing life and that honors Him without giving us instructions about how to do that. The word ” guide ” is the translation of the noun “all-up,” meaning an ” intimate or a friend.” I love this because it gives me the perspective that God is intimately leading me. It draws a word picture far more relational and loving than just the nuts and bolts of Christian living. The teachings of Jesus are saturated with this strong intimate guiding encouragement to help us navigate life daily.
The Sermon on the Mount(Matthew 5-7) contains such teachings and is often called the “Ethics of the Kingdom.” They cover everything from understanding God’s law and the Lord’s prayer to adultery to money and worry. I often have said to myself first, and then to others, it is easier to remain confused than to be obedient. I want to plead ignorance as a defense before the Lord when I do wrong. Frequently I will come to a place where I will fret that I am trying to figure out the right thing to do. However, with the Holy Spirits’ guidance and his reinforcement of the teachings in God’s word, honestly, there are a few times I haven’t really deep down known what the right thing to do is. Though it may call for sacrifice, be hard, and be disfavored by others, the righteous choice, in most cases, usually presents itself clearly. This is where the concept of Moments on the Mountain came from. Spending time studying Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 5-7 and allowing them to guide my thinking and behavior will bring a dilemma into proper perspective. Jesus’s instruction to us is meant to bless us and guide us into the abundant life He has planned for us and called us to. But too often, I rely on my instincts, experience, feelings, etc, and have painfully learned these sources are unreliable. They don’t provide an accurate compass for me to follow through daily life and its complexity of problems.
The teachings of Christ on the hillside were heard by a large crowd, but the words say, ” He came to His disciples and began to teach them.” This means Jesus, while preaching, had a targeted demographic. Folks like the 12 and others like them, and me that would choose to believe He was the promised Son of God. On that day, Jesus invited all to come to Him and follow Him. Then He supplied the guide, the how-to, for living out the life of a disciple.
Sometimes I kid myself that I can’t remember all this how-to stuff Jesus told me. But then I start recounting the recipes, songs, college basketball scores, historical dates, and even nursery rhymes I can call to mind. How much can you recall? I recognize it is a matter of priority. I need to commit to the teachings of Christ not just as an academic effort but commit it to the memory of the heart. I remember my mom’s cobbler recipe because I loved it, and I loved her and all the times we ate it together and so on. Psalm 119: 11 says, ” Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee ” NIT, but I love how the message puts it. “I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt.” This poses the question to my heart: Do I value the words of the Lord Jesus that I profess to love and follow after? Do I need clarification about money, what to do with it, and how to feel about it? Do I really want to know what Jesus said about worry and follow the guide he gave me to pray about the things that trouble me?
Past the Sermon on the Mount, and we come to the New Testament to the writings of Paul, who often preached that his desire was not for us as children of God to remain ignorant. Though he was specific about a few things, the spirit of all of Paul’s writings reveals his gift and desire to equip the disciples of Jesus to know and live out the gospel. In the world we live in today, I don’t need more information; I need more transformation. But instead, I find I want to spend more moments indulging my restless mind with things that won’t matter in the end rather than quiet myself at the base of the Mountain called stillness, where I can draw strength and direction from the words of my Lord. It is good to be a good steward of our minds, and the ability to learn is a gift from God that not everyone experiences, but if I am not prioritizing learning the principles and applying the how-to stuff Jesus gave me to enable me to follow after Him, I have consciously opted for confusion and chosen disobedience.
Lord, your word is a precious guide, spoken with love; it is intimate and reliable. You didn’t just call me to religion but to a relationship. But, You meant business that day on the Mountain. It was an orientation for life as a disciple. When I wander or lack, Lord, take me back to those moments on the Mountain, refresh my spirit, and renew my mind. Remind me you have supplied the know-how and the strength to do it.
Come back here next time the 5 o’clock worker reflects on “The Beatitudes, Am I Blest or Happy?” when the series Moments on the Mountain continues.
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